Pakistan unlikely to give Musharraf second chance to rule: Editorial

ISLAMABAD - Former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf’s aim of returning to country’s political stage may have received a boost recently with the launch of his newly floated party-the All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) in Karachi, but the question is would the people of Pakistan will give him another chance to rule after nearly a decade long autocratic regime.

According to an editorial in one of Pakistan’s leading English dailies, Musharraf, who claims that he has a large fan following on famous social networking site-Facebook, is unlikely to be given another chance by the public, who have seen a ’stage-managed’ democracy during the general’s rule.

“Pervez Musharraf claims he has a large number of fans on Facebook. But does this self-proclaimed conquest of cyberspace match the reality? Are the people of Pakistan willing to give the retired army chief another chance after nearly a decade of military rule that saw stage-managed democracy? The Dawn editorial asked.

It also pointed out that without the help of the ‘all-powerful’ Pakistan Army, Musharraf was unlikely to taste success in his political motives.

The editorial, while referring to Musharraf’s regular statements that he is ready to return to Pakistan to pull the country out of trouble, said that those statements certainly didn’t depict his true intentions.

“It is easy to dabble in politics from the comfort of a foreign country. However, enlisting the support of the man on the street in Pakistani cities is a different matter. General Musharraf’s decision raises a pertinent question: will national politics allow the return of a former military strongman at a time when the democratic project is still young? It does not appear likely,” it concluded. (ANI)